King Says, Benji Says (Week 12 Empty Throne Edition)

Okay, it’s official—His Majesty stood me up. I feel like Lloyd Christmas right now. I’ve been eagerly awaiting his arrival since Wednesday afternoon and as of 1:40 P.M. (EDT) on Thursday, I’m still left sitting next to an empty throne. He must have found a better date—maybe his mom offered to take him out to an all-you-can-eat buffet? Anyway, lucky for me, he left his picks outline on his throne before he took off so I should be able to piece together his prediction…

Cincinnati Bengals (1-8-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3)

The King’s Outline says:
Waste a sentence or two reflecting on the Bengals/Eagles 13-13 tie last Sunday. Be sure to include a comical comment about Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis’s reaction to the outcome. Probably include a useless comment about #85 with the sole purpose of calling him by his former name (Chad Johnson) instead of his new legal name (Chad Ocho Cinco). Most importantly, do not include any actual analysis of this match-up between the Steelers and Bengals. Try not even to mention the Steelers if it can be helped.
Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers 25, Cincinnati Bengals 5

Benji says:

There’s not a whole lot that the Bengals can take away from their tie with the Eagles. Donovan McNabb played probably the worst game of his career and Cincinnati was completely unable to capitalize. McNabb completed less than 50 percent of his passes while turning the ball over four times and the Bengals were still only able to score 13 points in five quarters of football. And it’s not even as though the Bengals’ defense played particularly well. I witnessed two different occasions when McNabb missed Westbrook when he was wide open and had no defenders in front of him. Cincinnati has scored the second fewest points in the league this season (13.8, ahead of only Oakland) and Pittsburgh has surrendered the second fewest (15, behind only Tennessee). The Bengals’ offense is no match for the Pittsburgh defense—the only way that Cincinnati could win this game would be if Roethlisberger completely imploded. But would that even be enough? Last week, the other team’s franchise quarterback played as poorly as he possibly could and the Bengals still couldn’t muster a win.
Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Cincinnati Bengals 9

I’ll be back with the rest of my picks tomorrow…hopefully His Majesty will decide to join me this time…